NEWLY-elected Labour MP Lucy Powell has announced she is pregnant – just two weeks after entering the House of Commons.

Ms Powell, who represents Manchester Central, became the first Labour woman to be elected to the seat last month. She is expecting her second child in May with husband James.

She described the timing of the news yesterday as “perhaps not ideal”.

The 38-year-old explained much of her maternity leave would fall over the summer recess when Parliament does not sit.

She did not announce the news during her election campaign because the pregnancy, now at 16 weeks, was still in its early stages.

Ms Powell said: “I will take a short time out from being in Parliament when the baby is born but I’ll still be doing my constituency work – just with another baby in tow.

“I’ve run a general election campaign pregnant and ran Ed Miliband’s leadership campaign commuting to London with a new baby, so I already have my system set up. I’ve always managed being a working mum.

I will take a short time out from being in Parliament when the baby is born but I’ll still be doing my constituency work – just with another baby in tow

Lucy Powell

“I think it’s important that we have working mums in politics and in Parliament who are juggling their demands in the same way that everyone else has to.”